Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, accompanied by his wife Jill, is introduced by former Conservative cabinet minister Peter MacKay, at the party's national policy convention, in Halifax, on Aug. 24, 2018.Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press
Andrew Scheer maintained Thursday the Conservative Party is united behind his leadership after Tories started publicly speculating about who might succeed him.
“What I know is that our entire team is excited for the election on Oct. 21," Mr. Scheer told reporters late Thursday evening. He stressed that Conservatives plan to win the next election “under my leadership.”
On Thursday, The Globe reported that supporters of former Conservative cabinet minister Peter MacKay are laying the groundwork for a possible leadership bid in the event Mr. Scheer is unable to defeat the Liberals.
In the report, veteran Conservative Party insider John Capobianco, a senior vice-president at the public-relations and marketing agency FleishmanHillard Inc., confirmed to The Globe and Mail that friends of Mr. MacKay have discussed the possibility he could seek the leadership if Mr. Scheer fails to form the next government.
In that case, Mr. Scheer would face an automatic leadership review in 2020 and senior players in the Conservative Party, to whom The Globe granted confidentiality to speak about sensitive matters, said he would have difficulty holding on to the top job if he can’t lead the party to victory at a time when Tories believe they should be able to defeat the Liberals.
The Conservative Leader tried to avoid answering questions about the story after the final leaders’ debate on Thursday evening, telling reporters: “I reject the premise of that question."
He later said his candidates across the country are “working hard to replace Justin Trudeau … with a Conservative Party under my leadership.
“We’re going to win on Oct. 21,” he said.
The Liberals and Conservatives have been virtually tied in public opinion polling since the election campaign was launched in September.
Mr. Capobianco and other Conservatives reached by The Globe stressed that no one is trying to undercut Mr. Scheer’s leadership, and that Mr. MacKay and his supporters are working hard to elect a Conservative government on Oct. 21.
After speculating to The Globe about what “might happen down the road” with the Conservative leadership, Mr. Capobianco took to Twitter on Thursday to apologize for his comments about the party’s future leadership.
“I am very sorry and give my heartfelt apology to the party and our leader. All evidence points to a united [Conservative Party] with all of us working hard to see Andrew Scheer as Canada’s next Prime Minister,” Mr. Capobianco said on Twitter.
Mr. MacKay left the door open to a return to politics when he announced his retirement in May, 2015, and in subsequent interviews he has left the option open.
According to Thursday’s daily tracking survey from Nanos Research, the Liberals sit at 37-per-cent support, while the Conservatives are at 33 – all within the margin of error. The New Democrats are at 14 per cent, the Greens at 8 per cent, the Bloc Québécois at 5 per cent and the People’s Party at 2 per cent.
The poll was sponsored by The Globe and Mail and CTV, with a total of 1,200 Canadians surveyed from Oct. 7 to Oct. 9. It has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. Respondents were asked: “If a federal election were held today, could you please rank your top two current local voting preferences?” A report on the results, questions and methodology for this and all surveys can be found at http://tgam.ca/election-polls.
With reports from Robert Fife and Janice Dickson
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